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Arctic sovereignty ‘first priority’ for north, says Harper

PM announces $13.4 million for airport upgrades in Churchill, Man., as he begins five-day trip to the Arctic.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper departs Ottawa for his annual Northern tour from on Monday Aug. 23, 2010. Harper will visit the communities of Churchill, Cambridge Bay, Resolute, Tuktayuktuk, Inuvik, and Whitehorse in Canada's north over the next five days. (Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

By Bruce Campion-SmithOttawa Bureau

Mon., Aug. 23, 2010

CHURCHILL, MAN.—Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched his summer tour of the Arctic on a familiar refrain, warning that protecting Canada’s sovereignty is the “first and highest” priority of his northern agenda.

Sixty-four Danish tourists apparently didn’t get the message.

They paid a visit to Hans Island, a hunk of Arctic rock that both Canada and Denmark have laid claim to.

According to news reports, the Danish visitors went ashore earlier this month from the ship Ocean Nova. It’s reported they erected a cairn with Greenlandic and Danish flags on top.

The tiny islet between Ellesmere Island and Greenland has sparked some tense diplomacy and angry words between Canada and Denmark as they wrestle over its ownership.

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But Harper, who will make chest-thumping sovereignty claims a big theme of this five-day Arctic tour, shrugged off news of the Danish visit, declaring that Ottawa has “bigger fish to fry.”

“Hans Island, I think, is a one-kilometre square rock in the middle of the Arctic Ocean so I’m not sure it would have made for much of a tour,” Harper said during a stop here Monday.

“But, as you know, we are committed with Denmark to try and work out a resolution to that particular dispute. It is progressing well. Obviously we have bigger fish to fry in terms of the long-term economic development of the north.”

Ottawa has sent conflicting signals in its rhetoric on Arctic sovereignty in recent days, pledging just last week to put renewed emphasis on diplomacy to resolve Arctic boundary disputes with Denmark and the United States while also suggesting there’s little room for compromise.

Still, the theme makes for good politics and Harper went heavy on the topic Monday as he used this northern Manitoba town — aptly known as the polar bear capital of the world — to launch the tour of Canada’s north.

“We recognize that the Arctic is growing more accessible to international shipping. The various circumpolar countries are pressing claims that may conflict with our own. The global demand for northern resources is growing,” Harper said.

“The first and highest priority of our northern strategy is the protection of our Arctic sovereignty. And as I have said many times before, the first principle of sovereignty is to use it or lose it,” he said.

Harper made the comments as he highlighted $13.4 million in federal funding to upgrade Churchill’s airport.

Speaking to a small crowd inside an airport maintenance garage, Harper touted his government’s list of pledges to reinforce Canada’s presence throughout the north, everything from a new icebreaker and patrol ships to social housing and improved broadband access.

He also highlighted the growing presence of the Canadian Forces in the north, including patrols by the Canadian Rangers and the work of a navy dive team that conducted the longest underwater ice dive “in our history.”

“Which is no mean feat I can tell you, having once dipped my toe into the Arctic Ocean,” Harper said.

But he also praised the “hardy adventurous spirit” of northern residents, saying they most “strongly embody” Canada’s sovereignty claims in the harsh region.

“We understand that living in the north is not always easy. In return for its breathtaking beauty and extraordinary opportunity, it exacts a toll — cold, darkness and isolation,” he said.

Yet he also cautioned that realizing the potential of the north will be a “long-term” project, saying change so far has been “incremental.”

“This is a sparsely populated, underdeveloped region of the country. It will require sustained investments and attention to take advantage of the opportunities that await it,” he said.

On Tuesday, Harper heads north to Cambridge Bay and Resolute. He’s expected to make a series of announcements to emphasize federal investments as well as visit with Canadian troops taking part in Operation Nanook, an annual Arctic military exercise. This year, the exercise is based out of Resolute on Cornwallis Island, its most northern location ever.

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